It’s Funny Because It’s True: Portland Queer Comedy Festival

The newest edition to the queer comedy calendar looks set to be a barrel of gay laughs.

By Madeleine Gray

Published: 2017.06.08 01:48 AM

Queer comedian, Mr. Julie Goldman

It is often said that the best humor, the most poignant comedy, comes from experiencing trauma and difficulty. Really good comedy takes an experience we feel uneasy about, throws it up into the air, and slashes it with a blade mid-flight, revealing what is unjust with such incisive flair that we laugh at it and at ourselves, for not understanding its idiocy or its malignant core earlier.

If this is the case, then it follows that queer women are going to be really, really funny. From a history of erasure, followed by sexist and misogynistic laws and micro-aggressions, the queer female community has a lot of stuff to laugh at.

What is very important, though, is that it is actual queer people who are writing the jokes, and skewering the bullshit. We’ve had enough years of having other people speak over us or, sometimes even worse, on behalf of us.

That’s why we are thrilled to tell you about the arrival of Portland Queer Comedy Festival. It's a multi-day, multi-stage queer comedy festival, and is produced by an actual queer person, long-time queer activist, writer, actress and stand-up comedian, Belinda Carroll.

Belinda has collaborated on the Festival with Andy Barrett, owner of Funhouse Lounge.

Featuring 5 stages and over 40 comics, Portland Queer Comedy Festival aims to bring the best and brightest talent in international LGBTQ stand-up comedy to a beautiful, diverse and inclusive Portland, Oregon; while giving back to the local community through non-profit initiatives.

Some of the hilarious comics, both LGBTI+ identifying folks, (and some of our funniest allies) performing include:

Guy Branum (TruTV’s Talk Show The Game Show, The Mindy Project, Billy On The Street)